What Does Luke 8:7 Mean in the King James?

And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.

Luke 8:7 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The seed and the thorns grow in the same ground, yet what grows beside it can choke it.

THE MEANING

This verse speaks to life taking root while other growth rises in the same inner ground. The seed does not have to stop growing first: what grows alongside it can close around it until it bears no fruit.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that growth around you is automatically life-giving: what shares your ground can still choke what is taking root.

THE ROOT

συμφυεῖσαι

symphyeisai

GROWS FROM

φύω

phyō

Grow, bring forth.

“grew” in this verse is symphyeisai. The word is formed from the sense of growing together: the thorns do not merely stand nearby but rise alongside the seed. English can hide that shared growth, while the Greek places both plants in the same unfolding.

ALSO GROWS

symphyo: Grow together.

συμφύω

It names the shared growth that makes the thorns competitors for the seed’s ground.

physis: Nature; what comes forth or grows.

φύσις

It carries growth into the idea of a thing’s formed nature.

phyton: Plant; that which grows.

φυτόν

It shows the same root naming the living growth itself.

ἀπέπνιξαν

apepnixan

GROWS FROM

πνίγω

pnigō

Choke, suffocate, drown.

The verb carries the force of suffocation, not merely being crowded. A related form describes the word being choked by cares, riches, and pleasures in this parable’s explanation (Luke 8:14).

ALSO GROWS

apopnigō: Choke off, suffocate.

ἀποπνίγω

This is the form used for the thorns’ action in the verse.

sympnigō: Choke, press in around.

συμπνίγω

This related form describes the thorns choking the seed in Mark’s telling of the parable.

THE PATTERN

Rival growth in the same ground can overtake what is taking root before it bears fruit.

For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.

Jeremiah 4:3 · KJVThe warning treats thorn-filled ground as a place where what is sown cannot flourish freely.

And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.

Luke 8:14 · KJVThe verse names the rival growth as cares, riches, and pleasures that choke the word before it bears fruit.

Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

Hebrews 12:15 · KJVA root that springs up can spread its harm beyond itself and trouble the surrounding lives.

THE THREAD

And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

Mark 4:7 · KJV

Mark uses a related form of the same choking root and names the result: no fruit. The seed can keep growing while its fruitfulness disappears.

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